Personal automotive vehicles have evolved over several decades to require less attention from a human driver during vehicle operation. For instance, modern automobiles may be equipped with headlights that self-illuminate in low lighting conditions, windshield wipers that self-activate during rainy weather, or climate-control systems that automatically regulate the temperature of the passenger, to name a few examples. Emerging technologies now enable automobiles to continuously monitor surrounding road and traffic conditions, have real-time knowledge regarding the global position of the vehicle, and to control vehicle acceleration, braking, and navigation based on this information. The trend is toward fully autonomous vehicles, in which little to no attention to vehicle operation is required from vehicle occupants once a destination for the vehicle is determined. In such vehicles, vehicle occupants are free to turn their attention to matters other than driving, such as work-related tasks, entertainment, or relaxation.
During the transition from traditional driver-operated vehicles to fully autonomous vehicles, reconfigurable passenger cabins may be employed to accommodate both a driver mode and an autonomous mode. With driver attention to vehicle operation not required in the autonomous mode, the driver may wish to assume a different or more comfortable seating position than the one required during traditional vehicle operation, in which driver feet must be near the accelerator and brake pedal and driver arms must be able to reach and turn the steering wheel, operate turn signals, etc. Indeed, in traditional driver-operated vehicles, there is very little room available for occupants to assume different seating positions. This is particularly true in the front row of seats where the driver and/or passenger is closely surrounded by a center console, instrument panel(s), arm rests, and steering wheel. It may thus become desirable to increase the amount of free space surrounding the vehicle occupants in the autonomous vehicle mode to allow more freedom of movement. This comes with a whole new set of problems not before encountered in a vehicle passenger cabin.
While certain passenger cabin components have been developed that might be said to increase the free volume of the passenger cabin, they do not address additional problems associated with vehicle occupants shifting their seating positions to non-traditional ones. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,092 to Hodges and U.S. Pat. No. 7,758,102 to Quigley et al. disclose retractable interior armrests on motor vehicle doors. In each of these examples, the armrest pivots from a horizontal usable position to a vertical position in a recess in the door. These armrests are disclosed for particular use with sliding vehicle doors (e.g., minivan doors) and are useful to reduce the outward distance the door must move while opening to avoid interference between the armrest and the door frame while the door is sliding open.